Each week I ask Carol to proof read the bulletin and when she read today's message title, "Passing the Mantle" I had "mantle" with a "tel."  So she said, "That's passing the top of a fireplace."  A mantle - ending in "tle" - is a cloak, an overcoat.  Passing the mantle signifies passing information on to your successor, to the next generation.  A mantle represents things that are important.  It's covering them with wisdom.  In the church, that's our faith, our teachings from the Bible.  Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28 we should, "teach them to observe all things I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19)   That's the mantle we pass.

          That's one of the main jobs of the church - to learn the faith, and then to pass it on, to pass the mantle of our faith, so that the next generation will know Jesus Christ and also know how to be the church God wants us to be.

          Elijah's passing the mantle to Elisha is a good example.  When he gave it to Elisha, he passed on his position as the primary prophet in Israel.  That was very important because there were few prophets to teach the faith.  Israel had almost become a "non-prophet" nation.  Today most churches insist they are "non-profit" corporations, but in some instances they are also "non-prophet."  They have little or no one to teach the faith, or to pass along faith to the young.

          God forbid that we should ever become like that - with no one to teach our faith.  But with all the quibbling going on in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, one never knows.  In some kind of strange way, just like misspelling "mantle" can result in a nonsense statement, so also misspelling "non-prophet" might become a true statement.  May we never become "non-prophet."

          What's involved in passing the mantle?  Two things.  First, it means we teach our young the Gospel and the basic truths of the Bible.  We mostly do that at home, but we also should be doing it at church.  But what kind of a job are we doing at church?  I don't know what parents are teaching their children about God at home, but I can fairly say we're not doing a very good job of passing the mantle to our children in Sunday School.  We're mostly dropping the mantle.

          But it's not due to our teachers.  They do a great job.  They're ready to teach all comers.  It's we parents who aren't bringing our children who are dropping the mantle.  I can't understand how Christian parents today can not bring their children to Sunday School.  If there is a good reason Sunday doesn't work out, let's start a Saturday School.  But I suspect it's not the time that's our trouble.  It's letting the "little ones to come to Jesus, and to forbid them not," as He said. (Matthew 19:14)   Sorry, Moms and Dads, I don't know how to say it any differently.  We're not good at attending Sunday School.

          Two things can stop us from passing the Mantle.  Either we have no mantle to pass or there's no one to pass it to.  You can't pass the mantle if you don't try, and you won't pass the mantle if there's no one there to give it to.

          In general, I believe most parents these days are doing a great job of raising their kids.  They're concerned about their child's education so they get involved in school.  They're concerned for their health so they enroll them in sports.  Some even take them to music lessons - great idea!  Yes, parents do well for their children, but not always when it comes to Sunday School.  Here we may deprive them of the mantle.  There are many fine things to do as a family on Sunday morning, but there's nothing finer than Sunday School for the whole family.  When the young see Moms and Dads learning the Bible, so will they.  But if not, we're dropping the mantle.

          The second way of passing the mantle is by encouraging our young men and women to enter the ministry of the church.  Whether it's as pastors, or teachers, or Directors of Education or Outreach or Music, we need men and women to take up the fulltime mantle for the sake of the church.  Who will take the place of our pastor when he retires or leaves for another church?  Who will teach in our Lutheran schools, and who will serve in the church with education or youth work?

          When Elisha picked up Elijah's mantle, he didn't put it into a museum, he put it to work.  He didn't wrap it up, he smacked the Jordan with it, got it all wet, and showed the junior prophets how it's done.  That's what our seminaries and colleges do.  There the old prophets teach the young prophets how it's done.

          We don't know all the details, but there were a few "Schools of the Prophets" during Elijah's time.  We hear of them at Bethel, Jericho and Gilgal.  So Elijah visited those schools now and then to teach some graduate classes, maybe courses like S-501, "Smiting the Pagans," or P-502, "Preaching the Word with Lightning and Other Special Effects."  Whatever the case, Elijah was done with his work and knew his time was short.  So he made one last tour of the Schools of the Prophets.

          This last tour was no less powerful than his first.  This time, instead of burning up a water-logged altar with lightning, he called down God's fire and burned up two army squads of 100 soldiers.  In those days, God had a thing about fire.

          You see, rotten old King Ahaziah, who took over after rotten old King Ahab, had fallen and hurt himself, so he told those two captains, "Go ask Elijah if I will recover."  Well, the first two groups of men didn't come back, because God burned them up.  I guess you could say they all got fired!  Not surprisingly, the third captain quickly changed his plan - he begged for his life on his knees!  "Please have respect for me and these fifty men!" he begged Elisha. (2 Kings 1:13)   Now that's a practical man!  No point in sticking to the army manual if it means certain death.

          God appreciated that practical man and spared him, but not the old King.  He died in his bed, "according to the word of Lord spoken by Elijah." (2 Kings 1:17)   Shortly after that, young Elisha saw old Elijah taken to heaven in a flaming chariot.  (As I said, God really had a thing for fire in those days.)  That was when Elijah passed his mantle to Elisha.  "First give me a double portion of your spirit," said the young man.  "If you see me when I go, you will have it," said the old man. (2 Kings 2:9-10)   And Elisha did see him go, and the Spirit's power came upon him as he took up the mantle.

          God so loved the world so much that He gave us His only Son.  His Son loved us so much that He gave His life that we might be forgiven.  And God also gave the Holy Spirit to empower men and women to do His work.  But it all begins with teaching our children.  A pastor can't teach them everything.  Children's messages don't contain that much.  Confirmation instruction is only two years, 30 weeks a year, about 45 hours, if they come each time, and if they don't miss class for every game, dance or music lesson.  45 hours a year is not enough time to pass the mantle.  Please - bring your kids to Sunday School!  And you adults come, too!

          I pray that God will one day inspire a young Elisha, or a Rebekah, or even an older Paul, to take up the mantle of the church.  It's a noble calling, preaching the Gospel.  It has treated me well.  Yes, the church has its warts, but what doesn't?  If the church were perfect there'd be no job to do.  But we also have the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have the message of God's love that far surpasses the messages of the world.  God loves us all in Jesus, He forgives us all in Jesus, so all we need do is trust in Jesus.  What a privilege to teach people that - and get paid for it, too!

          I also pray we will cover each other with that mantle, not club each other like some try to do.  We all need to pray long and hard for the coming convention.  God has some miracles to do there.  I can't wait to see what they will be.  Amen!

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.